Update

Nearly nearly there now - will post some pictures when I get a camera that works properly.

All cabling is now in, with the exception of the instruments / MIDI. Two PCs are in together with all the racking and patch bays, plus all soldering is now complete too.

Spent most of the weekend trying to install ProTools onto a clean install of XP SP2. What a nightmare - it just wouldn't boot up properly. The fault turned out to be that ProTools was unhappy being installed into a partition other than the C: drive. Once all the default paths were used it appeared to open without any problems. It is a pity that the error message displayed discussed an "Assertion Error in ...... code line 242"??? :)

Just all of the other software and plugins to go back on now, together with the speakers and control surface etc.

The booth was tested yesterday by simply recording a voice over and I was very pleased with how dry and quiet the recording was and there was obviously no annoying PC fan noise in the background. A neighbour was revving his motor bike in the ajoining garage and this couldn't be heard at all. One thing that lets the isolation down is the window so clear mastic has been placed around both sides of the perimeter which does appear to have improved things slightly. However, another single pane of glass may be installed vertically on the control room side which should help things out a little too. Also, the void between the inner and outer doorways are going to be lined with foam rubber to help give a little absorption between the void.

Update

A quick update - pictures to follow:

The racking is now in place as is some of the wiring to and from the devices / booth and kit. All soldering now complete too.

Most of the weekend was spent fixing the foam acoustic tiles to the entire inside lining of the vocal booth; most of the spray adhesive went up my nose, but at least that job is now complete too.

This weekend, it is hoped that all of the kit will be in place - a Mackie Control has been ordered today to work with Logic / ProTools and Vegas video, together with a Blue Sky 5.1 Media Desk surround monitoring system. The Mackie Control is going to be used in conjunction with a Digi002 Rack ProTools LE system.

Acoustic Foam Tiling

A fantastic place was discovered last night selling packs of acoustic foam wedges which can be used to line the inside of the vocal booth with. Originally it was intended to purchase a pack from Custom Audio Designs, however, their packs cost £295+VAT which would not quite be enough. An alternative place, who sell through ebay stock identical designs - 425 x 425 x 45mm deep wedges for just £32 for a pack of 30. This equates to an approx. coverage of 58 square feet, so two packs have been ordered. The URL is: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Comfortex-Foam

Update

Nearly there now - this weekend saw the benching erected, all of the trunking / mains finished and the alarm system installed (courtesy of my brother). The big TV is now on the wall too as is the sky feed - yes that is Coronation Street on the screen :)

Just the tie lines / wall boxes to be soldered now and then kit can go in. Next weekend it is hoped to build 2 x 14U rack cases out of MDF to fit underneathe the benching; once this is done the kit can go in.

Update

Almost there now - the trunking was installed at the weekend and back boxes are ready in place. It is hoped that this weekend the mains will be installed and the audio cabling too. The photographs here show the double door arrangment and the trunking installed. The booth will have four TRS lines for headphone feeds / DI etc., together with 4 mic lines one of which will double up as a "listen back" mic socket. Once the benching is then installed, kit can go begin to go in. If budget allows, it is intended to install acoustic tiling in the vocal booth as whilst separation is acceptable, the room rings like anything!

Update

A bit of an update:

Doors have now been installed together with 5mm neoprene seals around all perimeters.

Doors have been painted.

LCD TV bracket has been installed ready for big TV :)

It has now been decided to run a cable from the 4 port LNB on the satellite dish on the front of the house and have free satellite in the studio.

Surface mount trunking should be arriving tomorrow so mains should go live very soon together with the alarm system.